I believe it goes without saying that gridiron fandom and fantasy football often go hand in hand for the most diehard fans. It’s a way to feel like you are part of the action and to extend the experience of football throughout your week. As re-draft fantasy leagues begin their long offseason, and Dynasty players begin doing startups and making offseason trades, it’s a good time to examine the top 5 Miami Dolphins fantasy performers for the 2022 season and whether I think they’ll be fantasy relevant in 2023.
As a baseline, I’m using the data available in Sleeper for the 2022 season through the lens of full PPR. For those new to fantasy football, PPR stands for points per reception and is a very popular format. Playing in a league that is full-ppr, or a full point per reception leads to higher-scoring matchups and even more strategy for the team manager.
Additionally, for the novices out there, re-draft leagues are leagues in which teams are re-drafted every season, and dynasty leagues are drafted and managed more like a real NFL team, including rookie draft picks each season and many more trades.
During this recap, I’ll review each player’s total season points, average points per game, positional ranking, whether they’ll be fantasy relevant in 2023, and share if I have that player in a dynasty league.
Jeff Wilson, Jr. – Running Back – #23
Starting the season in San Francisco as the backup to then-starter Elijah Mitchell, Jeff Wilson, Jr. was thrust into the starting lineup in Week 1. In his first five weeks as the new starter, Wilson would rush for 375 yards and two touchdowns with a yards-per-attempt of 5.1. Some were even clamoring for him to remain the starter.
None of this success is new to Wilson. In his 4 seasons and 8 games with the San Francisco 49ers, Wilson put up 1733 yards on the ground, another 387 through the air, and 19 total touchdowns.
Upon joining Miami, Wilson would have an immediate impact. In his first game, Wilson would tally 51 yards on 9 carries with a touchdown. In his second game with the team, would another 119 yards and a touchdown on the ground. However, over the remaining six games, Wilson would put up just 222 yards on the ground while adding just one more touchdown.
The question remains though – as an unrestricted free agent, will Wilson re-sign with our Miami Dolphins? Only time will tell.
- Total PPR Points: 160.50
- Average Points-Per-Game: 9.84
- Positional Ranking (PPR): RB30
- 2023 Relevance: Likely a low-end RB2.
- Rostered on my team(s): Sadly, no.
Raheem Mostert – Running Back – #31
As was the case with the Number 5 player on this list, Jeff Wilson, Jr., Raheem Moster is a former Mike McDaniel favorite from his time in San Francisco. The former 49er joined the Miami Dolphins last offseason on a one-year contract after spending most of his seven seasons with San Francisco. And yes, I’m aware he was a Miami Dolphin in 2015 and “played” one game for the team.
For the sake of this article, I’ll focus only on his time in San Francisco and Miami (2022).
Over his nearly six seasons in San Francisco, Mostert would rush for 1610 yards, add another 361 receiving, and tally 14 total touchdowns. The oft-injured Mostert could always be counted on to bring blazing speed and a fighting spirit to the field with his best season coming in 2019. However, he played a full season only once over the course of his time in the bay area.
In his first season with the Dolphins, Raheem Mostert would rush for 891 yards, add 202 yards receiving, and tally five touchdowns as the team’s RB1.
As is the case with Jeff Wilson, Mostert is now an unrestricted free agent free to sign with whatever team he’d like. Will he be back in Miami? This writer sure hopes so.
- Total PPR Points: 169.30
- Average Points-Per-Game: 10.52
- Positional Ranking (PPR): RB25
- 2023 Relevance: Likely a low-end RB2 or RB3. Dependant on the situation.
- Rostered on my team(s): On one of my dynasty teams.
Jaylen Waddle – Wide Receiver – #17
It’s hard to say Jaylen Waddle’s name without waddling around like the penguin himself. I’ll try to resist.
Jaylen Waddle was drafted by the Dolphins with the sixth overall pick in the 2021 draft and burst onto the season in his rookie season with over 1,000 yards and the rookie receiving record. In 2022, alongside the addition of Tyreek Hill, Waddle helped turn this once-stagnant offense into a big-play pass-first offense. At one point, it looked like both receivers would reach or surpass the 2,000-yard mark.
While that didn’t happen, Waddle did have a tremendous year, especially when Tua Tagovailoa was in the starting lineup.
Not only would Waddle increase his yardage from his rookie season but he’d top his touchdown total as well. Jaylen would finish the season with 1356 yards and 8 touchdowns through the air, adding another 26 yards on the ground.
Jaylen Waddle would be the WR1 on most teams but with Tyreek Hill playing alongside him he’ll always be the 1B. However, that is not a bad thing as that 1B to Tyreeks 1A still meant that Waddle would have a WR1 season, finishing as the 8th-ranked wide receiver in PPR formats.
Waddle is under contract for two more seasons, with a 5th-year option available, and will likely (and hopefully) be a successful Miami Dolphin for a long time to come.
- Total PPR Points: 258.20
- Average Points-Per-Game: 15.25
- Positional Ranking (PPR): WR8
- 2023 Relevance: Absolutely
- Rostered on my team(s): Sadly, no.
Tua Tagovailoa – Quarterback – #1
Tua Tagovailoa is easily one of, if not the most polarizing quarterbacks to discuss in some time. While I happen to believe in the talent while also hoping to see him stay healthy enough to finish a season, there’s a whole other side of the football fan world in which many focus on the flipside of that argument. For the sake of this article, I’ll focus on the facts. I’ll let the comment section fill with the opinions for today.
With 36 games played over his first three seasons, with 34 total starts, Tua Tagovailoa has thrown for 8015 yards, 52 touchdowns, and 23 interceptions. He’s also completed 65.7% of his passes with a quarterback rating of 95 on the nose.
While his first two years weren’t awe-inspiring, playing behind a bottom-performing offensive line and without much firepower in the receiver room, his third season would prove to be quite different.
As I shared in a recent article, “Tua led the league this season in passer rating, yards per pass attempt, yards per completion, and passing touchdown percentage (tied with Mahomes).”
The only asterisk is that he has not been able to stay healthy, and on the field, for a full season since entering the NFL as the 5th overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft. For Tua, he’s likely in your starting lineup in fantasy when he’s healthy but you may be scrambling for a fill-in or rostering an extra quarterback if you have him just in case.
With that said, I roster him in two of my four dynasty leagues and I’d add him in the other two if I could as I believe he’s the QB of the future if he can stay healthy.
- Total PPR Points: ~289.92 (depending on format)
- Average Points-Per-Game: 18.30
- Positional Ranking (PPR): QB15
- 2023 Relevance: Absolutely
- Rostered on my team(s): Yes, in two Dynasty leagues.
Tyreek Hill – Wide Receiver – #10
I get it. You saw this one coming when you started reading this article. However, I’d be willing to bet you weren’t 100% sure this would be the case when Miami traded for Tyreek Hill back in March of 2022. In fact, most pundits and even some fans thought this would be a total failure.
Tyreek Hill was drafted in the 5th round of the 2016 NFL draft out of West Alabama where he played running back, wide receiver, and kick returner pretty evenly.
Over the next six seasons as a Kansas City Chief, four of which with Patrick Mahomes as his starting quarterback, Tyreek Hill would have 6630 yards receiving, 719 yards rushing, and a stunning 62 total touchdowns. His career high in receiving as a Chief was 1479 yards in 2018, Mohomes first season as the starter.
When he arrived in Miami, many in the media cast doubt on whether this could be it for Tyreek’s run at the top. However, instead of fading into the abyss, Hill would go on to achieve a new single-season career high in yards with 1710 with three different starting quarterbacks. Yes, he played at his best when Tua was on the field but this season showed the world that the Cheetah is the Cheetah no matter who is throwing him the ball.
Tyreek may be going into his age-29 season but he hasn’t lost one step.
- Total PPR Points: 287.7
- Average Points-Per-Game: 20.36
- Positional Ranking (PPR): WR2
- 2023 Relevance: Absolutely
- Rostered on my team(s): One of my dynasty leagues.
Wrap Up
Well there you have it – this year’s top fantasy football performers for the Miami Dolphins. Did one of them help you win your league? Planning to buy-high/low on one of them in Dynasty this offseason? Let’s talk about it in the comments below.